New substation powered up, being eased into full service

The village’s newest and third electrical substation was turned on for the first time Aug. 31 after a final round of tests.

Wellington electric superintendent Dave Bealer said the substation is being eased into working at full capacity but things are going smoothly.

“We let it run all weekend and began to put more of a load on it (Sept. 4),” he said. “There’s a couple little things we found that need worked out but all of our substations are now up and running and usable at any time.”

Total estimated costs for the project were originally set at $2.1 million, but the final tally came in about $300,000 less.

Wellington’s two older substations, the first built in 1978, began to have problems with their capacity in the past few years during Lorain County Fair week.

Bealer said the new substation was not used to handle any power for the fair this year, but it could have if needed.

A three-hour blackout was created for Wellington electric customers during Summer 2015 to allow for crucial repairs to the village’s power grid.

While the new substation won’t help customers avoid peak-hours of usage, it will provide redundancy if there is a problem in other areas. Officials have said the substation is capable of temporarily handling most or even all of the village’s power in the event of a serious outage at another station or transformer.

Jonathan Delozier can be reached at 440-647-3171 or @DelozierNews on Twitter.